Barcelona and Juventus to battle it out for PSG and Real Madrid superstars, Chelsea asked to pay world record transfer fee for Real Madrid superstar and more: Transfer Round-up, December 1, 2018

Joel Matip quells speculation that he is set for Anfield exit

Joel Matip is one player who has suffered owing to the emergene of Joe Gomez and it has been recently speculated that the defender, disgruntled by the lack of playing time is looking for a move away from the club.

With Gomez and Van Dijk forming a strong partnership at the centre of the Liverpool defence and Dejan Lovren being Klopp's trusted alternative, Matip has fallen down the pecking order.

However, the Cameroon international has now brushed off any suggestions that he is looking for an out.

Matip told the Evening Standard,

“I only concentrate now on the season on Liverpool and there’s nothing else in my mind. Everything else would only distract me.

“I’ve got to wait for my opportunity, I have to work hard - this is the life of a player.

“I try to be in the best form I can be and to be ready if I had to be."

With the Merseyside derby coming up on Sunday, Matip is focused on the game even though he is unlikely to feature for the Reds.

“You see the atmosphere and then you know that the next 90 minutes it will be [difficult]. Every game is a fight but this will be a massive fight."

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Sripad